This invention relates to containers for filthy waste matter, in particular bags for collecting excreta from the artificial anus, which have good flexibility and odor-retaining property and can be thrown into the flush toilet bowl without causing troubles.
Immediately after operative treatment of diseases of tubular or cavitary organs, such as ileum, transverse colon, descending colon, sigmoid colon and anal fistula, a minute opening (stoma), generally called an artificial anus, is sometimes formed on the body surface for discharge of filthy waste matter, such as fecal matter, pus or body fluid, therethrough. Not only immediately after operations but also during convalescence and even after return to work, the artificial anus is retained in many instances.
Bags for collecting the waste matter excreted from the artificial anus are called ostomy bags, colostomy bags, ileostomy bags and so forth depending of the tubular or cavitary organ to which the stoma is connected.
As to the construction of bags of this kind, various proposals have so far been made, as mentioned below.
Japanese Kokai Jitsuyo-Shinan Koho (unexamined utility model application publication) No. 142119/80 discloses bags for artificial anus which have an adsorbent paper/synthetic resin film structure, with an excessive amount of an adsorbent contained in the adsorbent as incorporated therein on the occasion of paper making.
A Japanese patent application filed under PTC and laid open under Kohyo No. 501631/82 discloses bags chiefly intended for medical use which have a structure such that a vapor barrier layer, such as a vinylidene chloride-vinyl chloride copolymer layer, lies between two layers made of a blend of a chlorinated polyolefin and an olefin polymer. In the relevant specification, mention is made, either as the prior art bags or bags for comparison, of bags for medical use which respectively have the following structures: polyethylene film, plasticized polyvinyl chloride film, a plasticized polyvinylidene chloride film, polyethylene/ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer laminate, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer/polyvinylidene chloride/ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer laminate, and polyethylene/ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer/polyvinylidene chloride/ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer/polyethylene laminate, among others.
Japanese Kokai Tokkyo Koho (unexamined patent application publication) No. 1246/85 discloses non-sound-producing films for the manufacture of ostomy bags which comprise either a layer of a blend of an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer and an elastic polyolefin or two layers of said blend and a gas/odor barrier layer of a vinylidene chloride copolymer, an ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer, a vinylidene fluoride-vinyl fluoride copolymer, a polyamide or the like as interposed between said two layers.
Japanese Kokai Tokkyo Koho No. 122527/85 discloses bags for excreta from the human body which are made of a 3-hydroxybutyrate polymer film or a laminate derived therefrom. As films usable for lamination to said film, there are mentioned water-soluble polymer films, such as polyvinyl alcohol films and polyethylene oxide films.
Japanese Kokai Jitsuyo-Shinan Koho No. 175248/85 discloses films for bags to be attached to an artificial anus which are produced by three-layer coextrusion of a blend of a saponified ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer and a partially saponified ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (as middle layer) and an ethylene-(meth)acrylic ester copolymer (as sandwiching layers).
Japanese Kokai Tokkyo Koho No. 31151/86 discloses bags for receiving feces from the artificial anus which comprise a deodorizing coagulant disposed on the bag bottom and in the tubular section, where a readily water-soluble paper species is used.
Bags currently in practical use for collecting filthy waste matter excreted from the artificial anus have a three-layer construction of ethylene vinyl-acetate copolymer (inside layer)/polyvinylidene chloride/ethylenevinyl acetate copolymer (outside layer) or a four-layer construction derived from said three-layer construction by further lamination of a nonwoven fabric or a net-like structure.
Japanese Kokai Tokkyo Koho No. 155408/84 (the applicant being the same as in the present application), which is citable in connection with the present invention, discloses a method of producing modified polyvinyl alcohol which comprises saponifying a copolymer of an oxyalkylene group-containing unsaturated monomer and vinyl acetate. However, no mentioned is made therein of bags for collecting filthy matter excreted from the artificial anus.
Bags for collecting filthy matter discharged through the artificial anus are required to have, among others, the following properties:
(1) The filthy matter collected can be prevented from leaking from them (water resistance);
(2) No odor can leak out while they are worne (odor barrier property);
(3) They will not produce any sound so that others can never become aware of the fact of wearing thereof (non-sound-producing property or flexibility);
(4) They can be thrown into the flush toilet bowl without causing stopping up of the flush line (disposability in flush toilet);
(5) Their feel and touch are never unpleasant to wearers (acceptability in touch).
The bags disclosed in the above-cited references cannot meet all the requirements mentioned above. Even those bags currently in practical use which have an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer/polyvinylidene chloride/ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer three-layer structure or a four-layer structure derived therefrom by further lamination of a nonwoven fabric or a net-like material may possibly cause stopping up of the flush line if they are thrown into the flush toilet bowl, although they are fairly satisfactory in respect of water resistance, odor barrier property, flexibility and feel and touch.
It is no doubt that artificial anus bearers are increasing in number year by year. The number of those artificial anus bearers that have returned to work is also increasing. Under these circumstances, it has earnestly waited for the advent of bags capable of meeting all the requirements mentioned above.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide bags which can meet such requirements as mentioned above.